The restaurant was practically empty, except for a table in a far corner where an obese South American man was devouring a pork chop which scarcely fitted on the plate.
For the last few minutes, the chemistry between James and Mary had increased significantly. Mary seemed to laugh at all the stories James had told her - perhaps most of it was down to the sparkling champagne going to their heads.
Mary looked especially beautiful on this occasion. She was wearing a strappy black dress which showed off her figure, giving her some dangerous curves; a pair of black shoes with shiny details, and see-through pantyhose which showed off her tanned legs. Meanwhile, her long wavy hair fell over her right shoulder, giving an unimaginable dose of sensuality.
James, who for the last few minutes had sneaked closer towards her, had an overwhelming urge to take her in his arms, feel how their heartbeats quickened and, at last… kiss her.
He had the chance to do so when Mary finished speaking and their eyes met for a few seconds which seemed to go on forever. Neither of them said a word, they just looked into each other’s eyes. James had only just decided to hold Mary’s hand when one of the waitresses walked over with a pile of dirty dishes, ruining the atmosphere that had been so difficult for them to create. She then proceeded to clear the table without any kind of tact.
“We’d better go,” said Mary, seeing that they were the only ones left in the restaurant.
They walked to the elevator, their rooms being on the fifth floor. A young woman was standing in the corridor waiting for one of the elevators with several suitcases. A few seconds later, a young man who seemed to be her boyfriend appeared with two more and sped off after he had put them down.
The left elevator opened.
The girl didn’t look as if she was going to use it, so they both went in and the doors closed behind them.
The elevator slowly went up. Silence descended to the point where it was uncomfortable. The two looked ahead, with Mary standing closer to the door than James.
It’s now or never! Kiss her, don’t be stupid! James’ head was mess. His heart was telling him to act, while his mind was rationally thinking about how awkward the rest of the trip would be if she rejected him.
Third floor… Fourth floor… Fifth floor, the doors opened. James sadly accompanied Mary to her room, aware of the opportunity that had just passed him by.
After gently pushing open the door, Mary entered her room after first rewarding James’ gesture with a kiss on the cheek. However, her lips being so close made James’ heart explode and his rationality disappeared for a few seconds.
“Mary, I…”
“Yes, James?”
James couldn’t get his words out, his legs shook and he would probably stammer if he tried to speak. He opted for actions rather than words. He entered the room and, without thinking twice, embraced Mary’s body. She returned his advances, leaving him dumbstruck. Eventually, he kissed her. Her gaze and the way she had held him so tenderly were more than enough.
“Have you made up your mind?” smiled Mary while her lips hovered an inch from his, waiting to steal another kiss.
Just at that moment, a boy of about fifteen was walking towards the elevator. Curiosity got the better of him and he peeked inside a room whose door was ajar. His brain suddenly told him to stop, but momentum kept him walking. Looking back, he wondered how a couple could kiss each other so passionately. The man was squeezing the woman tightly against the wall, while his left hand slid slowly over her thigh, uncovered by the dress. The door slammed shut behind the boy, giving him a fright.
Chapter 29
James was sitting on the edge of the bed, already dressed, staring at Mary’s face as she slept peacefully on the far right of the mattress. He couldn’t take his eyes off her hair; it lay tousled and shiny around her shoulders before getting lost among the sheets. Just as the clock in the room struck nine in the morning, the telephone rang. He picked it up immediately, even before the first ring had finished, so that it didn’t wake her. A short yet friendly morning recording advised him that it was time to wake up.
When Mary opened her eyes, she saw the blurry outline of a man before her. She was blinded by the light, and it prevented her from opening her eyelids until her pupils had adapted to it. The outline was that of James Oldrich, dressed in jeans and a blue striped shirt. His recently shaven face, gelled hair and small yet honest grin revealed a new, rejuvenated version of James.
“Morning, Mary. Did you sleep well?”
At first the woman didn’t notice what he was carrying in his arms. But after throwing off the bed sheets and scanning the room looking in search of her pants, her eyes fell upon a beautiful bouquet of flowers. “Are… are they for me? Thanks a lot James, they’re beautiful.” Mary inhaled deeply, drinking in their intoxicating scent.
“You have no idea how hard it was to find a bunch of flowers in this country. Sit on the bed, I have a surprise for you.”
Mary gave a grateful smile and obeyed without protest.
The bouquet had been more than enough, but now she was nervous and intrigued to know what all this was about. James went towards the door, bent down and picked up a big tray from the floor; it was full to bursting with coffee, milk, cookies, chocolate cakes and toast with jelly. Everything had been carefully placed and adorned with two small roses on either side.
Arranging all that had brought him a real sense of pleasure. Over the last few months, the most outrageous thoughts had been running through his mind. After divorcing his wife, he constantly brooded over how difficult it would be to find somebody new with whom to share his life, interests, worries… which was something he had always wanted; not just a wife, but also a best friend. His mind had often wandered on to future situations and he always saw himself as an old bachelor, over fifty, alone, waiting for the end of his life without anybody to share his last moments with.
Mary had healed the deepest wounds in his heart, those which his ex-wife had vengefully set about creating in anger, with malicious intent. Now was the time to give love a second chance. He was ready for it to come into his life and block out all the impure feelings which tormented him inside.
“Thank you so much, it is so kind of you. And, well… everything looks just great.”
Just at that moment, Mary knew that it was the ideal time to present James with something which she had been thinking about giving him for the last couple of days. She stood up from the bed in her underwear and walked over to the closet where she kept the backpack she had been carrying with her for the whole journey. She reached into one of the side pockets and took out an old watch. It had been carefully looked after, with not even a scratch on the glass face. Only the worn brown leather strap with an extra hole hinted at the fact it had been used before. In all other aspects, it seemed brand new.
Mary took it over to James and placed it on his wrist. “It belonged to my father. Yesterday I had the mechanism cleaned and a new battery put in. It’s the only thing I have left to remember him by, and I’d like you to have it.”
“No! I can’t do that! It’s a beautiful watch, but it must have enormous sentimental value for you. It’s the only thing of his you have left!”
“My mother gave it to my father as a present when they got married. He always wanted me to give it to the man I decided to share my life with.” Mary took his hand, squeezing it tightly against hers. “James, I have very strong feelings for you. You’re a very special person and the one who I want to spend the rest of my life with.” She looked at the flowers that lay on top of the bedside table, and then the breakfast on the tray. James followed her eyes. “I think you feel the same way about me, otherwise you wouldn’t have done all of this. I’d just like you to take it for the time being, and we’ll talk about everything when all this is over.”
Before James had a chance to speak, they heard shouting coming from the corridor. Someone was pounding their fist against the door, they seemed worried.
“Mary? It’s
Richard. Are you there?”
“Yes,” replied Mary. “Wait a minute, I’m just getting dressed.”
They both exchanged a knowing look, clear enough to show that they agreed to keep everything secret, for now at least. James gathered his things and went into the bathroom, switched off the light and hid behind the door.
“What’s the matter Richard?” asked Mary as she opened the door, threading her belt through the loops on her pants.
“I called James’ room at nine this morning, but nobody answered. I asked the cleaner if she had seen anyone leave, but she looked at me all surprised and said that nobody had spent the night in that room. When she went in, the bed was still made. Do you think those two bastards have found us?”
Mary didn’t seem impressed by his story. “Don’t worry, he’ll be downstairs. Did you call his cellphone?”
James realized that his phone was in his pants pocket; an inconvenient call from his friend at that moment would give the game away. He reached into his pocket and took it out.
“Yeah, about ten times but it’s switched off.”
James sighed.
Mary, who was walking completely carefree to the other side of the room, picked up a maroon jersey and pulled back the curtains. Just then, Richard laid eyes on a beautiful bunch of flowers which was sitting on one of the bedside tables, as well as a tray left on the floor, the coffee still steaming. Suddenly it all made sense. He gave a devilish grin while Mary still had her back to him and he tried to feign ignorance as long as he could.
“I’m going to ask at reception, perhaps the porter knows something.”
“Okay. I’ll see you in the cafe in five minutes.”
When he had left the room, James emerged from the bathroom. They stared at each other before bursting into laughter. It was obvious that Richard had caught them.
“You go down first, he’ll be waiting for us in the cafe. I’ll come down in ten minutes. I think he’s looking for you to tell you something about the book. He must have spent all night reading it.”
The vast majority of hotel guests were still asleep. The night before they had organized a massive event somewhere nearby; circus games, clowns and magicians had all made the evening unforgettable. The last big surprise was a grand finale with fireworks against a backdrop of the three pyramids, which rounded off the event in the early hours of the morning.
In the dining room, breakfast was still being served. Aware of the long night enjoyed by the tourists, they had decided to offer breakfast for an extra hour. Richard was reading a copy of an American newspaper, apparently much calmer than before and his face more relaxed, treating his taste buds to a coffee and a few delicious muffins.
James sat down on one of the empty chairs. “Where did you get that paper from?”
“Apparently, the hotel is crawling with Americans. An old guy left it on that table a while ago. It’s from yesterday, but there’s a very surprising article inside.”
Richard folded the newspaper on page thirty and dropped it into his friend’s hands. It was a rather short report but the headline was no less shocking: THE IMMORTAL ANIMAL. On the right, a color photograph of a jellyfish illustrated the page.
James paid particular attention to the photograph. He was familiar with the story. “Several television channels have already been quick to raise the alarm in their daily bulletins, but this is the first time I’ve seen something written about it.”
It was a small article. It simply hinted at how many investigators were left astonished by their rapid expansion through the whole world, so James read it while his friend gave him a brief summary of the topic.
“The jellyfish is the only animal on Earth which is immortal, and it might even have existed here since time immemorial. It has the ability to reset its cells after an indefinite number of years, so it becomes young again and starts a new life. It is as if a butterfly, before it dies, went back to being a caterpillar and was then reborn as a completely new butterfly.”
“So it would repeat that process ad infinitum and never die,” said James, looking up from the newspaper.
“Exactly!” beamed Richard.
“According to the journalist who wrote this article, its natural habitat used to be the warm Panama coast, but due to climate change it has adapted perfectly to almost all the seas in the world. Their appearance in other ecosystems is largely due to boats. When they take large quantities of water onboard for cleaning purposes, these creatures get inside the hold. After using that water, they throw the surplus overboard along with the jellyfish, which start to colonize a habitat which is not theirs.”
“James, don’t you realize that climate change spells the end for us? We’re looking at a future invasion, on all our coastlines, of an animal which is difficult to get rid of and yet our leaders are more worried about airing out their dirty laundry than solving problems which really concern us.”
James completely agreed with his friend. The good thing about working in a university was the fantastic and never-ending vacations they had, and he always spent them at the same place: the beach. He was fanatical about the sea, and of course he couldn’t go a day without his regular two hours in the water, or doing some kind of watersport to burn off his adrenaline. Never in the world could he imagine an invasion of jellyfish along every coastline in the world. It would be a real tragedy.
“Anyway, tell me.” Richard’s eyes lit up at the thought of what he was going to ask. “Where did you spend the night?”
James had rehearsed the lie he was going to tell him since he had left Mary’s room. He took a deep breath and started to spin his yarn, trying not to put his foot in it. “Yesterday we drank a little more than normal, and before I went to sleep, I came down for a stroll to see if I could clear my head. When I got here, I sat down on one of the sofas and fell asleep. I woke up at eight in the morning.”
“What a pitiful lie!” replied Richard, taking James by surprise so much that he choked and broke into a coughing fit. “You had half an hour to come up with something more convincing. I expected more from the future president of our university.”
James smiled. It would be ridiculous to try and deny the evidence, even more so before Richard who would continue to twist his arm until he scooped an exclusive. “To be honest - “
“Good morning.” Mary had just arrived. James could breathe easy, at least for the time being. “Well, Richard? What did you find out in the end?” she asked, breaking the ice.
The paleographer grinned. “I was just explaining everything to James. I’ve managed to decode the third chapter. It actually doesn’t contain anything interesting, or anything we didn’t know already, except for the last few pages. There it mentions a possible location for the second piece.”
“Which country does it mention?”
“It doesn’t refer to any country, but it talks about an expedition carried out around 200 BC. Starting from the Red Sea, the purpose was to find an area far enough away to hide the next piece of the Trifariam. They were searching for a place which would be inaccessible to looters.”
“Didn’t you tell us a similar story a few days ago?” asked Mary, getting excited.
“Yeah. The expedition I told you about crossed the Pacific Ocean until they reached America. In fact, the dates given in the book could match perfectly. I guess they may have sent two expeditions; the first would have found the ideal place and the second would bring the fragment.”
“It must involve the Mayans,” said James with certainty. “As you well told us, there are characteristics which are common to both civilizations which go beyond coincidence.”
“That was my first impression. But we can’t base everything on mere hypotheses and head off in search of an object without any irrefutable proof of its location. So I kept searching, until last night I discovered a hidden message in the text itself.”
A special glint was in Richard’s eyes. His body was overwhelmed with anxiety and a fervent desire to share his findings with hi
s friends. Meanwhile, both James and Mary held their breath waiting for their friend to spill his secret.
“Last night when I was asleep, I woke up tossing and turning about an idea that I couldn’t wait to check out the next day. I sat at the desk, switched on the lamp and pulled it as close as I could to the book. I spent over an hour researching; I didn’t want to miss the slightest detail. Did you know that the writing on the last page of the chapter is different from that of the rest of the book? What if this was another clue, this time in the text itself?”
They both analyzed the writing at once. He was right - it had completely changed. This time, unlike the other pages of the book, the space that each character occupied was exactly the same, regardless of the letter used. Looked at it in an abstract way, without trying to understand the meaning, the letters are grouped together in well-defined rows and columns, just like a word search.
“I was shocked by that arrangement of letters and I wondered if Simone Di Benedetto could be directing our attention to that piece of text in particular. Given that we normally read in rows and I already knew what it said, I began to read the text in columns, but they didn’t make any sense until I got to the twenty-fourth column.”
Just then, James’ cell phone began to ring; it was Anthony. Most likely, he had arrived at the hotel and was waiting for them in the entrance hall.
Before he left to look for him, Richard passed James a piece of paper. It was a sheet containing all the columns of the original message, spaced out across the page. His indifference after reading it made the paleographer furious. “Read the twenty-fourth column!” he exclaimed in disgust.
Right away, a string of expletives burst out of James’ mouth. He was completely taken aback by what his friend had discovered. Just towards the center of that column, two words could be made out from everything else - SUN and MOON.
Trifariam, The Lost Codex (2012) Page 19